Trump levels full-throated attack on Qatar for funding terror 'at a very high level' after secretary of state tells UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Bahrain to stop blockading the tiny country
- 'No more funding,' the president declared, urging Qatar to stop paying terrorists
- Qatar is a tiny Middle Eastern coutry that is also a crucial U.S. military partner
- President said Arab countries came to him to complain about Qatar during their meeting in Saudi Arabia
- Made his stark comments during a press conference with Romania's president
- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had earlier asked four other countries to re-establish trade and travel ties with Qatar, citing 'humanitarian' consequences
President Donald Trump accused Qatar on Friday of funding terrorism 'at a very high level,' and said solving the problem in the tiny Persian Gulf nation could be 'the beginning of the end of terrorism.'
'No more funding,' Trump said.
Launching an extraordinary allegation against a key U.S. military partner, Trump derided what he called Qatar's 'extremist ideology in terms of funding' terrorist groups, an accusation Qatar has repeatedly and vehemently denied.
His comments were a forceful endorsement of this week's move by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to cut off ties to Qatar.
President Donald Trump spoke during a Friday news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House, saying Qatar has been funding terrorism 'at a very high level'
Trump spoke alongside Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Friday
Trump tweeted about the effort to isolate Qatar on Tuesday, setting off concerns about fragile alliances in the region as Saudi Arabia and other nations cut off all links
Trump said Arab leaders he met with in Saudi Arabia last month had urged him to confront Qatar over its behavior.
'The time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding,' Trump said. 'They have to end that funding.'
Speaking in the Rose Garden, the president said Qatar had 'historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.' Other U.S. officials have said Qatar has already taken some steps to reduce terror funding but that the steps are insufficient.
It wasn't immediately clear how Trump's sharp condemnation might affect U.S. cooperation with Qatar, which hosts some 10,000 U.S. troops and a major U.S. air base that serves as a staging ground for operations in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Qatari Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke about Qatar at the State Department, calling on Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to immediately ease their blockade
This aerial view shows just one area of the sprawling Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a section known as 'Ops Town'
Only an hour before, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had issued a very different message, calling on the Arab nations to immediately ease their blockade on Qatar.
'The blockage is hindering U.S. military action in the region, and the campaign against ISIS,' Tillerson said, using an acronym for the extremist group. Tillerson has been tapped by Trump to help mediate the crisis.
Tillerson, too, faulted Qatar for allowing funds to flow to extremist groups, but in terms that were much less severe. Tillerson said the U.S. was asking Qatar to 'be responsive to the concerns of its neighbors.'
'Qatar has a history of supporting groups that span the spectrum of political expression, from activism to violence,' Tillerson said. He credited Qatar's emir with making progress in curbing financial support and expelling terrorists, but added: 'He must do more, and he must do it more quickly.'
TRUMP'S ATTACK ON QATAR
'No civilized nation can tolerate this violence or allow this wicked ideology to spread on its shores.
'I addressed a summit of more than 50 Arab and Muslim leaders, a unique meeting in the history of nations, where key players in the region agreed to stop supporting terrorism, whether it be financial, military or even moral support. The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level.
'And in the wake of that conference, nations came together and spoke to me about confronting Qatar over its behavior. So we had a decision to make: Do we take the easy road or do we finally take a hard but necessary action? We have to stop the funding of terrorism. I decided, along with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, our great generals and military people, the time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding – they have to end that funding – and its extremist ideology in terms of funding.
'I want to call on all of the nations to stop immediately supporting terrorism. Stop teaching people to kill other people. Stop filling their minds with hate and intolerance. I won't name other countries, but we are not done solving the problem, but we will solve that problem. Have no choice.
'This is my great priority because it is my first duty as president to keep our people safe. Defeating ISIS and other terror organizations is something I have emphasized all during my campaign and right up until the present. To do that – stop funding, stop teaching hate, and stop the killing – for Qatar, we want you back among the unity of responsible nations. We ask Qatar and other nations in the region to do more and do it faster.
'I want to thank Saudi Arabia and my friend King Salman and all of the countries who participated in that very historic summit. It was truly historic. There has never been anything like it before, and perhaps there never will be again.
'Hopefully, it will be the beginning of the end of funding terrorism. It will, therefore, be the beginning of the end to terrorism. No more funding.'
Trump and Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani took part in a bilateral meeting in Riyadh on May 21 but Trump later criticized his nation for supporting terrorism
Tillerson, speaking at the State Department, said the U.S. would help support efforts to mediate the crisis, along with Kuwait – another Gulf country that has stepped up to try to broker a resolution. Urging all sides to avoid further escalation of the conflict, Tillerson said the elements were available to resolve it.
Yet Tillerson's plea to Qatar's neighbors to pull back their efforts to isolate the tiny gas-rich nation marked a shift from previous statements by the Trump administration.
Earlier in the week, Trump took to Twitter to take credit for the Saudi-led move to punish Qatar, saying it could be the start of the end of terrorism in the Middle East. He noted that during his recent trip to Saudi Arabia, Arab leaders he'd met with had joined in warning about Qatari support for terrorism.
Since Saudi Arabia and other nations cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar on Monday, triggering the worst diplomatic crisis in the Gulf in years, the U.S. military has insisted that it would not affect U.S. military operations in the region.
But Tillerson said the crisis was indeed affecting the U.S. military.
Qatar has long denied supporting or funding terror groups. But Western diplomats accuse Qatar's government of allowing or even encouraging the funding of some Sunni extremists, such as al-Qaeda's branch in Syria.
Tillerson's efforts to mediate came as Qatar's neighbors put 12 organizations and 59 people on a terror sanctions list and described them as being associated with Qatar, in a fresh attempt to increase pressure. Qatar dismissed the terror listing as part of 'baseless allegations that hold no foundation in fact.'
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